They have resurrected another gem, entitled India: The Shimmering Dream
by Max Reisch. The book is subtitled "The first
overland journey to India by motorcycle in 1933" and it's a
fantastic read.

Regular webBikeWorld readers will know that
Panther
Publishing in the UK is a leader in digging up some of the most
fantastic vintage motorcycle books ever written and making them
available to a new audience of motorcycle riders. Panther books
are distributed in the U.S.A. by
Motorsport Publications.

It's a real pleasure to discover Panther Publishing gems like
The Rugged Road (review)
by Theresa Wallach, who -- in 1934, mind you -- rode a 600 cc
motorcycle with a sidecar and trailer down the entire length of
Africa. Did I mention that was in 1934? Think of the roads -- or
lack thereof -- in Africa in those days.

And a woman doing this in the 1930's? Unthinkable! Sorry
guys, but today's farkeled-out GS owner can't ride through a tank of gas without GPS,
Bluetooth cell phone connection, a fifteen-hundred-buck Klim outfit and a hydration bladder
full of electrolytes.
Making a trip like Wallach's in 1934 is nearly beyond
comprehension.

Or how about Fay
Taylour, "Queen of Speedway" (review)? Speedway, kind of
like American oval dirt track racing, is a dangerous
rough-and-tumble sport today. Imagine what it was like in the 1920's?
Safety gear? Helmets? Knox armor? Feh!
Taylor was so good at it that the men in charge banned women
from the sport. In 1930!

The point here is that we as motorcyclists think we've seen
and done it all, yet so many have come before, paving the way for
us by eating dirt and busting knuckles the hard way.

These are
absolutely amazing stories that would be lost to history without
notice if Panther Publishing hadn't brought them to light of
day for modern eyes. So muchas gracias to Panther and
here's my
advice to all webBikeWorld readers: take advantage of
Panther's work and buy these books! You won't be disappointed.

I think India: The Shimmering Dream is the best so
far. And I can't be the only one who thinks so, because the book
has been in continuous (albeit limited) publication since it was
first published in German in the 1940's.

It's a remarkable story of the very young Austrian, Max
Reisch, who early on got the urge to travel -- by motorcycle --
just like many of us do today. But this was 1933, and his
passion
was to be the first to travel overland to India on a motorcycle!

Imagine trying
to undertake a trip like that on a 250 cc Puch motorcycle in 1933 -- with
his passenger (Herbert Tichy) and a full set of luggage, including
a tent, sleeping gear, a
typewriter and large format camera!

Needless to say, it's an incredible story that is very
entertaining and well illustrated with Reisch's old photos.
Wanderlust was in Max Reisch's genes; his father was also a motorcycle wanderer
at the beginning of two-wheel time and the gene is still there.
Max's son Peter now keeps the
Reisch family
archive alive and well in Austria with documents and
artifacts of his father's long career in exploration that
started with the overland trip to India.

The translation by Alison Falls, who is also a motorcyclist,
starts out a bit stilted and perhaps too literal, but she soon works up to it and
the story is so fascinating that one quickly looks past the
translation and through the eyes of Max himself.

It's an easy and very enjoyable read and the photos taken by Reisch are
plentiful, so all told this is a must-have. You'll never again
complain about chain restaurant road food once you learn what this pair went
through on their amazing and, at the time, ground-breaking and
historical adventure.